1. Social media channel segmentation of
tourists
Juho Pesonen
Juho.pesonen@uef.fi
Centre for Tourism Studies,
University of Eastern Finland
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2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Background of the study
– Research questions
• Data and methods
• Results
• Conclusions and limitations
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3. Introduction
• Importance and popularity of social media
in tourism research.
• Important role in travel information search.
• Segmentation as a cornerstone of marketing
– Finding groups of customers that behave in a
similar way
• Information channels have been used to
validate segments in earlier research
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4. Earlier research
• Fodness & Murray (1997): importance of
understanding information search behavior.
– Segmentation and social media in tourism?
– Bonn et al. (1999) internet users and non-users.
– Correa et al. (2010) relationship between users’
personality and social media.
– Consumer reviews, online buying behavior and
socio-demographics.
– Plethora of different social media services.
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5. Research questions
• What kind of social media user and non-user
segments can be found among online tourists?
• How segments differ regarding their online buying
behaviour?
• What segments are most important for spreading
electronic word of mouth?
• What kind of differences there are between
segments in socio-demographic profiles?
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6. Data and methods
• Online survey with 1515 usable responses
from largest Finnish rural tourism website.
– Users were asked to choose the social media
services they had used during past 7 days.
– Also online buying behavior and how often
respondents write reviews online were
measured.
– Three step data analysis: users and non-users,
segmenting users with TwoStep cluster analysis
and comparing segments using ANOVA and
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7. The results
• Nine social media user segments and one
non-user segment (N=184)
– Facebookers (N=177)
– Blog users (N=118)
– Enthusiasts (N=152)
– Wiki users (N=120)
– Suomi24 users
– (N=114)
– Map users (N=125)
– Actives (N=205)
– Youtube users (N=183)
– Youtube and Map users (N=137)
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8. Comparing segments
• Enthusiasts vs. other segments and non-
users in writing reviews and purchasing
products online.
• Enthusiasts are younger and have more men
compared to other segments.
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9. Conclusions and limitations
• Usefullness of results for managerial
purposes is low.
• Confirms earlier research.
• Limitations in wording of the social media
question.
• Almost as many segments as social media
channels.
• Importance of Enthusiasts as a target group.
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10. References
• Bronner, F. & de Hoog, R. (2011). Vacationers and eWOM: Who
Posts, and Why, Where, and What? Journal of Travel Research 50(1):
15-26
• Correa, T. Hinsley, A. & Zúñiga, H. (2010). Who interacts on the
Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use.
Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2): 247-253.
• Fodness, D. & Murray, B. (1997). Tourist Information Search. Annals
of Tourism Research, 24(3): 503-523.
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